Hi guys,

I know that we could report late payments to credit bureau through MrLandlord. What's the benefit of reporting (besides scaring the tenants to pay on time)? Many years ago, I evicted a tenant and won both possession and monetary (back rent) judgement. I didn't hope that I would get paid back rent. Three years later, to my surprised, that tenant called me and wanted to pay. Why? She was trying to get a home loan to buy a house and her lender required that she satisfied all debts. What didn't know was that for somehow one of the credit bureaus picked up this monetary judgement court record and put it in her credit report. So I got paid full back rent plus interest (dictated by the law).

Now I have a tenant who skipped rent and moved out. I also have some tenants who purposely stop paying rent (even though they still have jobs) because of the eviction moratorium. Should I report their late payments and hoping to get lucky to get paid one day? Can someone share their experience on this or benefits or reporting to credit bureau? Thanks.

Your first para was a great reason to always keep judgments and or garnishments active-- you just never know.

2nd para is two issues-- skip out and now none pay.

You should pursue the skip out if you've followed the law in inspecting and explanation of charges and in a timely manner. Go for it.

The second part of para 2-- OK they're not paying and there is a moratorium on paying-- but not for the landlord filing for none payment with the court. #1 when you file drop off a copy of your court papers and receipts to the door of the tenant. Next keep that rent amount due CURRENT WITH THE COURT. So as a month goes into next month-- file your paperwork to include that amount. (amendment)

The bottom line on filling: (and you may mention this to the tenant) this will be picked up by the credit bureaus. So when they get ready to skip out on you-- any decent LL who does a check will see the Dispo-- and I'm almost 100% sure they will know from the dates this person stuck the LL and skipped.

Couple of notes.

1. You do not need to have an official judgment in order to use the service featured on this site to report debts to the credit bureaus.

2. And yes, for the low cost of doing so, it is recommended that you report debts because you may one day get lucky again which may mean several hundred or even thousands of dollars of "found" money. Over the years, including this year, I have had several instances where residents were now buying or renting something and needed to clear off old debts and therefore contacted me to pay off old debts.

3. The service here is for "past' debts, once the resident moves out of the property. So you would NOT use the service to report residents currently living in your property who are late in their payments or not paying. Again the service is for reporting the debts of former residents, after they are out of your rental.

plenty[MO], Jeffrey just clarified that we don't need the court judgement to use the debt report service.

myob[GA], wow congrats that you could collect from those that you took them to court.

Two reasons to do it.

You might get them to pay the judgement

You warn landlords in their future to not take them. The new landlord will appreciate it and there is a little bit of satisfaction that you have made the deadbeat's life a bit more difficult.

I love it when you see 2 judgements from apt complex's. We add them together and when the applicate asks why is the deposit so high-- we say-- "we'll", were not going to be number 3, -- we want to protect ourselves.

Chicago,

(loved that band!)

We use credit reports in our screening toolbox AND in our skip tracing. (My app is clear: management may pull credit AT ANY TIME)

BUT...

Gotta know that in the age of algorithms and computers doing things inside a black box without an actual person checking it, not all small claims judgments will show on their credit report

SO...

I highly recommend filing judgments and debts thru Jeffrey's service.

Yes, every so often we get a large check from a past debt that is trying to buy a house, car, receive an inheritance, collect their lottery money...

We FILE in our court on every debt and pursue it. Facebook has made this immensely easier.

FUTURE...

My lease is clear: each adult must provide a minimum of 4 EMERGENCY CONTACTS with permission to give notices, etc. People are excited and glad to provide when getting the keys.

2 residents plus 8 contacts gives me 10! phone numbers to text, call, mail. etc to locate a skip. Yes, I serve their Granny! and it counts for court.

Be proactive.

BRAD

You get more flies from sugar than vinegar.

Jeffery has another service that reports positive payments to the credit reports folks too. Clear Now is the service and it will help you from chasing down payments.